The Point of it All

The reading habit in India has come of age considering the lakh and a half footfalls at the recently concluded Jaipur Literary Festival.  Litfests in the country are a new genre of festivals gathering momentum over the last ten years.  Every other city boasts of an art/lit fest,  the Apeejay  Kolkatta Literary Festival, the Mussourie Writers’  Festival, the Hay Festival  and Bookaro, to name a few.  Is it a passing fad or a lasting phenomenon and has the common man become an avid reader?  These are questions which spring forth, but going by the mere 10,000-sold mark of a book which becomes a bestseller in India , the story needs to be  investigated. 

I was a delegate at the  Goa Art/Lit festival . The mood of discussions and debates propelled me to continue the experience and I found myself part of the burgeoning crowd of intellectual elite at the Jaipur Literary Festival. Itl was hosted at the Diggi Palace within the heart of the Pink City. Readings were held simultaneously at six venues ( lawns and halls) of the palace.  One had to be present at the reading tents well in advance to secure a seat , which I got used to after the first day . What heartened me was the turnout and active participation of youngsters at the readings.  The old and older people were in attendance as usual.  It was a congregation of the intellectual elite from various cities of India and abroad in their winter best. The writers, literary agents and publishers from India and abroad completed the circle of the most elusive and celebrated people from the world of books.

The talks celebrated great writings from poets and writers, lyricists and novelists, environmentalists and journalists, and the power of great ideas to transform our way of thinking. The festival became a playground of the exchange of views and meeting of minds that inspired revelations- personal, political and educational. A Chinese writer remarked during one of the discursive sessions that he was both astonished and warmed by the wide open debate between writers, journalists, members of the civil society and the audience without any embargoes so much in place in his own country. He felt intrigued by the diverse voices applauding and at the same time critiquing the government and other policy makers. If one tent hosted a political debate on breakout nations, another talked about the history of literature and yet another about the nature of a Punjabi. Religious and spiritual readings interspersed the chain of hot topics thronged by thousands from all age groups. Then in the end, we went and spoilt it by the 2013  controversy by a sociologist about the age-old caste factor in our country.

Dalai Lama was the star of the festival with every person in attendance beelining to hear him speak on truth, honesty and the need to educate our hearts and minds, the so-called process of self-engineering. Each peaceful mind adds to the peace of the world and there is no THEY and WE , for as it came up in the talk about Kipling, They are nothing but We. Buddhist monks created magic each morning with Buddhist chants in Pali and Nepali, and another, beginning with  poetry from the archives of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, too.
It was global in its reach and yet anchored by 17 Indian languages. Bollywood, too, was equally represented by lyricists, actors and directors. The panel discussions ranged from folk elements in cinema to the onscreen image of a woman. Young adult workshops at Samvad were led by eminent educationists on the latest pedagogical practices in education. The bookshop engaged the crowds effectively by proudly displaying works of all writers in attendance. The DSC prize for best South Asian literature and the showcasing of the Booker of the Booker prize shortlists were programs not to be missed.    The readings ran clockwork with close adherence to the printed schedule and protocol. Kudos to Namita Gokhale, Sanjoy Roy and William Darlymple.

That’s the bookish side of the picture so far. The other side introduced the idea to the spectators that though we are here for books and for the sake of books only, it would be too boring without music, food and controversies to sum the matter on a somber, pleasing note. The venue did not seem like a cosy village of booklovers and writers but a commercial hub, with food stalls, crowds, as if thronging fairs of colour and music, and Rajasthani cuisine and fashion in full splendor. Did this showmanship detract book lovers and writers from their activity of serious discussions or spurred them on with its alluring whiffs of colour  , is a matter of debate in itself. For me, it was the latter, provided they come up with a much bigger venue to house the noise and congestion of a huge audience or spread the events over 7-days at least.

The fest was an ultimate pleasant interlude of writers, publishers, literary agents, debutant authors, and readers. Coming back to our original question of whether the events (I have been part of the Bookaro, and Kala Ghoda Lit Fest too sometime back) are an evidence of our improving or revolutionizing reading habits in the present times of the visual media and gadgetry. The pointer is towards young India with never-ending deadlines and short attention spans. Or is it a cool quotient to be seen at such spots of the literary elites. You mention books as you drop names without having read them.  Maybe they are new centers of business and touristy agendas under the garb of literary and cultural promotions. The fast growth and explosive popularity has achieved the inclusion of corporate sponsors. In the solitary world of books, reading and  writing , these incursions are indicative of a defining change in the modern times of writing, selling and promoting books. Certain writers and avid readers like to remain far away from such happening fairs.  But the question remains ‘Is the general public reading?’

Brand Books Festivals are here to stay. What form it will evolve into, only time will tell. Let’s wait and watch as the Tamasha continues, said Amitav Ghosh.